Professor David Cohen served as the dean of Pace Law School from 1999–2004. Dean Cohen came to Pace after having served for five years as dean of the University of Victoria (Canada) Faculty of Law. After clerking at the Supreme Court of Canada for Mr. Justice Estey, Dean Cohen began his career in legal education in 1980 when he joined the faculty at the University of British Columbia. He has also been a Visiting Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, the University of Toronto and the University of Florida. He teaches in the areas of law and regulatory policy, commercial law and planning, contract law and law and economics.

He has written extensively in a range of areas including contract theory, governmental liability, product safety regulation, dispute resolution and environmental policy and regulation. In Canada he was active in a range of public interest activities including work with the Public Interest Advocacy Centre and the Legal Services Society of British Columbia. He was president of the Consumers’ Association of Canada and a member of the federal Environmental Choice Advisory Board. He was a member of the Environmental Standards Committee of the Canadian Standards Association and a member of the Board of the West Coast Environmental Law Association.

"Tort Law and the Crown: Administrative Compensation and the Modern State," in Tort Theory, edited by Ken Cooper-Stephenson and Elaine Gibson. Ontario, Canada: Captus University Publications, 1993.

"The Intersection of Consumer Protection Law and International Trade: Implications for Canadian Regulators," in 1 Essays in International Economics 239. Montreal, Canada: Institute on Research on Public Policy, 1985.

Articles

"The Relationship of Contractual Remedies to Political and Social Status: A Preliminary Inquiry," 32 University of Toronto Law Journal 31 (1982).

"Comment on the Plain Language Movement," 6 Canadian Business Law Journal 421 (1982).

"Public and Private Law Dimensions of the UFFI Problem: Part I," 8 Canadian Business Law Journal 309 (1983).

"Public and Private Law Dimensions of the UFFI Problem: Part II," 8 Canadian Business Law Journal 410 (1984).

"Bleeding Hearts and Peeling Floors: Recovery of Economic Loss at the House of Lords," 18 University of British Columbia Law Review 289 (1984).

"Entitlement and the Body Politic: Rethinking Negligence in Public Law," with J.C. Smith, 64 Canadian Bar Review 1 (1986).

"Thinking about the State: Law Reform and the Crown in Canada," 24 Osgoode Hall Law Journal 379 (1986).

"Western Ideology, Japanese Product Safety Regulation and International Trade," with K. Martin, 19 University of British Columbia Law Review 315 (1985).

"Chief Justice Nemetz’s Judicial Record; Judicial Decision Making and Judicial Values," 23 University of British Columbia Law Review 97 (1988).

"Law, Order and Democracy: An Analysis of the Judiciary in a Progressive State – The Saskatchewan Experience," 56 Saskatchewan Law Review 24 (1992) (also published as Working Paper CLHP-WPS-92-18, Canadian Legal History Project, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada [1992]).